Main
Quinn Asena
Post-doctoral research associate developing and applying new statistical methods to palaeoecological data to understand ecosystem responses to environmental change. Working with Jack Williams and Tony Ives on data across North America on an NSF funded project: Abrupt Change in Ecosystems. I also like to get hands on in the field and lab.
Education
PhD, University of Auckland
School of Environment
Auckland, NZ
2021 - 2017
- Exploring virtual ecological methods for generating pseudoproxy data to assess statistical inferences under data uncertainty.
- Supervised by George Perry and Janet Wilmshurst.
MEnv. Environmental Science
University of York
York, UK
2016 - 2012
- 1st class integrated masters degree in environmental science. Master’s researched involved environmental monitoring using sensor networks and robotics.
- Courses included: Ecological Principles; Biogeography, Applied Ecology and Environmental Management; Protected Areas; Design and Implementation; Climate Change: Science, Observation & Impacts; Research Skills and Statistical Methods.
Selected Positions
Post-doctoral research associate
University or Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
Present - 2022
- NSF grant, developing state-space modelling methods to analyse palaeoeological records.
- Abrupt change in ecosystems project lead by Jack Williams and Anthony Ives.
Research Assistant
University of Auckland
Auckland, NZ
2022 - 2021
- Conducting a bibliometric analysis on the topic of climate justice.
Engagement Specialist
Centre for e-Research
Auckland, NZ
2022 - 2021
- Engaging with researchers providing extensive research support by setting up virtual machines, data storage, and analytical workflows for graduate students and research staff.
- Includes technical skills for virtual machines (Linux, Bash, Slurm), high performance computing, and version control.
Articles and Publications
Statistical analyses of community and paleoecological time series to identify environmental drivers and biotic interactions.
In-prep
N/A
2024
- Asena, Q., Williams, J., Stefanova, V., Johnson, J., Shuman, B., Ives, A.
Information loss in palaeoecological data from process and observer error
In-prep
N/A
2024
- Asena, Q., Perry, G.L., Wilmshurst, J.
Is the past recoverable from the data? Pseudoproxy modelling of uncertainties in palaeoecological data
Holocene
N/A
2024
- Asena, Q., Perry, G.L., Wilmshurst, J.
A Bibliometric Review and Topic Analysis of Climate Justice Literature: Mapping Trends, Voices, and the Way Forward
Climate Risk Management
N/A
2024
- Parsons, M., Asena, Q., Johnson, D., Nalau, J.
- Code repository publicly available.
Packages, apps and resources
George Perry Lab
Interested in the lab group? Visit George Perry’s lab group: Spatial Ecology Group
Williams Lab
Check out the Williams lab
Ives Lab
See what the Ives Lab group do
multinomialTS
R package
N/A
2024
- R package for state-space modelling of multinomially distributed data
- Hosted on GitHub
Selected Workshops and Conferences
Hobbies and Interests
Keen musician improving my piano skills
Rock climber, if I’m not working I’m probably up a mountain. I teach rock climbing safety at university clubs.
ESA 2024
Ecological Society of America
Long Beach, CA
2024
- Speaker: Hypothesis testing of the drivers of long-term ecological change in Michigan
- Workshop host: State-Space Methods for Testing Hypotheses About Environmental Drivers and Biotic Interactions in Community and Paleoecological Time Series
ESA 2023
Ecological Society of America
Portland, OR
2023
INQUA 2023
International Union For Quaternary Research
Rome, IT
2023